One of the most important components in a telephone network, e.g. the public switched telephone network (PSTN), is the switching center. An example of such switching centers is the DX200 manufactured by Nokia. Telephone switching centers can be interconnected via trunk cables. Thus they form a system designed to allow the provision of various services to the clients.
For a telephone switching system to work properly, it has to be managed. The interface used for the management of a telephone switching system is often called a Man Machine Interface (MMI). Through the management interface, it is possible to control the operation of the telephone switching system and to make changes in the operation control as required.
In the DX 200 telephone switching system and the associated management interface (MMI), the user's authority and rights are determined on the basis of a user identifier (User ID). The MMI system is a certain assembly of software and peripherals, which can be used to execute management control functions. Based on his/her authority and rights, the user may give control commands to the various computer units in the telephone switching system.
For each user identifier, an individual password has been defined to permit user authentication. In some MMI systems, and in computer systems in general, it is possible to create access right profiles applying to users and/or terminals. The access right profile specifies e.g. which MML (Man Machine Language) command language commands the user is authorized to execute. When the user gives a command, the system checks whether the access right profile is authorized to execute that command. A given user identifier is associated with certain access rights, and so is a given access right profile.
An access right profile pertaining to a given set of terminals defines the circumstance that sessions relating to the management of the computer system or telephone switching system can only be activated from a given terminal on certain conditions.
A problem with the above-mentioned access right definition is that rights once defined remain valid until they are modified again. In practice, the modification is carried out e.g. manually by the operator. In other words, the access rights or access right profiles are at present in no way dependent on the prevailing conditions, e.g. the time of the day or the utilization rate of the system.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks referred to above or at least to significantly alleviate them.
A specific object of the invention is to disclose a new type of method and system whereby access right profiles can be modified dynamically in a telephone switching system.
As for the features characteristic of the present invention, reference is made to the claims.